Former CBC television reporter humbled to receive 2017 Indspire Award

By Rick Garrick

Georgina Island’s Duncan McCue, host of CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup, was surprised about being selected as one of 14 recipients of the 2017 Indspire Awards: Celebrating Indigenous Achievement.

“Frankly, I was gobsmacked when they gave me a call because I’ve been watching and admiring and celebrating the people that have been awarded Indspire Awards and before that, Aboriginal Achievement Awards,” McCue says. “They are incredible people — some of them are my heroes and certainly many of them are role models to me. So to be considered amongst those achievers is just incredibly humbling to me.”

McCue credits the longevity of his career at the CBC and the reporting he has done on Indigenous people for being recognized with the Indspire Award for Public Service. He worked as a CBC television reporter for about 20 years, and many of his news and current affairs pieces continue to be aired on The National. He took on his new role as host of Cross Country Checkup this past July.

“I’ve done a lot of reporting in Indian country over the years,” McCue says. “It really ranges from doing stories on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and violence against Indigenous women to safe drinking water. But more importantly, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to also tell stories about reconciliation, in small, meaningful ways — the many different things that Canadians and our people are doing together that are positive — and telling positive stories from First Nation communities as well as some of the more challenging ones.”

McCue also credits the Reporting In Indigenous Communities course he developed and taught at the UBC (University of British Columbia) Graduate School of Journalism and the Reporting In Indigenous Communities website he created to educate the next generation of journalists to do a better job of reporting in Indigenous communities for being recognized with the Indspire Award.

McCue first got involved in journalism about a month after starting university when he was invited to write an article for the student newspaper.

“The article turned out to be about what I suggested was systemic racism at the university,” McCue says. “And I was amazed when the newspaper came out that my article instantly created a conversation at the university about racism, much to my surprise. It thrilled me to see people sitting around reading my article, debating my article, seeing the president of the university responding to my article, and I got the bug. I was bit right then, so I ended up working at the student newspaper over the course of my undergrad more than I spent in my classes.”

After completing his English degree, McCue studied law at UBC and was called to the bar in British Columbia in 1998.

“I freelanced all through law school,” McCue says. “And I was asked to come in and do a commentary on the Delgamuukw decision the day it came down from the Supreme Court of Canada. I went into the CBC Vancouver studios to do a two-minute commentary on set and after that a producer asked me if I’d ever considered being a news reporter.”

McCue says he cannot imagine doing anything else other than journalism.

“It has been such a satisfying career for me,” McCue says. “It’s taken me to so many parts of this country, so many First Nations across this country, and I’ve met so many people and had the privilege to tell their stories.”

McCue is enjoying his role at Cross Country Checkup.

“Cross Country checkup is a show with a venerable history,” McCue says. “So it’s been a real pleasure to be part of that national conversation and talking about the stories that matter to Canadians.”